Before he started exhibiting again in the middle of 2011, Jigger Cruz, now 27, decided to stop painting for a year. He felt frustrated at his lack of commercial success. This despite earning approval from critics impressed enough with his skill to get him into the finals of competitions like Metrobank’s (2003) and Philip Morris’ (2006). Continue reading
By Jigger Cruz
The skull must be to us as the peace sign was to the hippies and rebels of the 1960s and 70s. We see it everywhere, on everything. The visual arts, especially, has adopted it an all manner of works. Damien Hirst’s For The Love of God counts as one of the more notorious ones in recent history, platinum cast and encrusted in diamonds, priced at close to $100 million dollars. Unfazed by the controversy created by the sale (or non-sale, depending on which report one subscribes to), the artist made another one, this time using the cast of an infant’s skull, to inaugurate the Gagosian Gallery’s Hong Kong branch early this year. He called this second version For Heaven’s Sake. Continue reading